Unexpected Kindness
by FallenAngel2013
Summary: With the world going to hell, her unwanted alliance with Wesker, and her renewed powers, Alice finds herself in a dark mood. But when Leon shows up with an unexpected act of kindness on Christmas, her outlook on the future brightens, as does her attitude towards him.


**A/N: **_**I'm normally a Leon/Ada fan, but the possibility of Leon/Alice is too intriguing to pass up. While this is more of a Leon/Alice friendship fic, I might look into writing some romance fics with these two. Depending on reviews, I may write more one-shots or even a full on story sooner rather than later.  
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**Disclaimer: **_**I do not own **_**Resident Evil**_**. I'm just playing in the sandbox.**_

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The world was going to hell, and the only thing Alice could do was stand by and watch as she recovered from her fight with Jill and the Rain clone. She had a handful of fractures and cracked bones, not to mention a series of dark bruises, but thanks to that bastard Albert Wesker injecting her with the T-Virus she was healing faster than a normal human.

She'd thought that she had been free of the virus forever, that she could finally be human again, but her hopes had been crushed in less than a second. Once again she was a freak, a monster, and that combined with the sudden death of her friend Luther West only a week ago was enough to put her in a dark mood to say the least. She put on a smile for little Becky, assured her with lies that everything would be okay, but the dark feeling had latched onto her heart and she just couldn't shake it. With everything that was going on just outside the perimeter, how could anything be okay?

It was daylight, and that meant that the flying BOWs had retreated to their dark hideouts, not liking the light. That was a small reprieve for the soldiers who during the day could focus solely on the creatures constantly attacking from the ground, and that was when Alice, Wesker, and others in command devised their plan.

As much as she hated Wesker, as devoted to her vow to kill him as she was, he was right. They had to work together or none of them would survive. So she grudgingly worked with him, one eye always on him and one hand near her gun. And _never _did she allow him near allowed only Jill and Leon around the girl, as well as a doctor named Heather who had a son around Becky's age. Other than that, she despised anyone being near her, and it was only by the girl's request that she let Leon get near her at all.

Becky liked just about everyone and thought Leon was nice, so she always beamed when he came by to discuss the situation outside with Alice. If only she knew that he'd wanted Alice to leave her behind…

Alice didn't think that she'd ever be able to let that go, nor did she ever let him forget it.

A knock at her door drew her attention and she grasped her desert eagle tightly before approaching. Opening it just a crack, she found the man she'd previously been think about standing there with a backpack slung over his right shoulder, his left arm still in a makeshift sling as a result from Rain's violent attack.

"What do you want?" she asked curtly, preferring to spend as little time with him as possible and certainly in no mood to deal with him right now.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

She opened the door a bit more, but blocked his entry with her hand against the door frame. "After you tell me what you want?"

Sighing, frustrated as always with her, he shuffled the backpack on his shoulder, and explained, "In case you didn't notice, it's Christmas. A lot of the women around here usually scrounge up whatever they can turn into gifts and give them to the kids for their birthdays. Since its Christmas, they're extra generous. Jill and I found a few things for Becky – even Ada tossed something in for her."

"What, they have you playing Santa?" she questioned with less bite.

A smirk tugged at his lips. "I guess you could say that. Jill's busy, and since you have a short list of people permitted to see the kid, I thought I'd come up and give them to her."

She wanted to make some cruel comment about how he hadn't given a damn about the kid back in the underwater base, but she held her tongue. In truth she hadn't known it was Christmas. It wasn't like she kept a calendar on her person.

Grudgingly, she stepped aside and allowed him entry. "Make yourself at home."

Leon walked inside and pointed over at the curtain that hid a portion of the room. When Alice nodded, he went to it a pulled back the curtain enough to reveal Becky's makeshift bedroom, complete with a cot and two foot lockers.

The little girl looked up from what she was drawing and smiled brightly. "Leon!" she exclaimed happily, tossing the paper to the side and scooting over so he could sit down beside her on the cot.

The man took a seat beside her and shifted a bit so that he faced her, and asked, "How are you, kid?" He spoke slowly so that she could read his lips.

At some point her hearing aids had busted and now she couldn't hear a single thing that wasn't an explosion. While she could read lips fairly easily, Alice and Ada were the only ones who could sign. Since Ada wasn't the most chatty person, Alice was the only one she could really talk to. But Leon tried to be social with her, as did Jill.

Becky shrugged, looking at her lap, and Alice's heart tightened. This wasn't how a little girl should live, especially one who had false memories imprinted into her brain.

Sighing, understanding the sad shrug, Leon tapped on her shoulder and handed her the backpack when she looked at him. "Merry Christmas, Becky," he said with as cheerful a smile as he could muster.

The girl's mood brightened immediately and she grinned, blue eyes widening, and she hastily unzipped the backpack to search for her gifts. Nothing in the bag was wrapped since wrapping paper was understandably scarce, but that didn't seem to faze her. Reaching inside, she pulled out a set of crayons – all used to some degree and a few colors missing – a pair of sunglasses with a few plastic gems glued to the sides, and lastly a brown leather jacket that was far too big for her.

"That's my jacket," Leon said when he had her attention. "You take care of it and you can keep it, deal?"

"Deal!" she said as well as signed. Before either adult could comprehend the action, Becky threw her arms around Leon's neck and exclaimed an off pitched, "Thank you!"

Leon looked almost as shocked as Alice did by the action but reacted appropriately and returned the hug before clearing his throat uncomfortably and pulling away. Ruffling the girl's honey curls, he stood indicating that she could keep the backpack, and closed the curtain before walking over to Alice.

There was a brief, awkward silence before she said, "She likes you."

"Yeah," he replied, nodding more to himself, lips fighting a smile.

The smile only pissed Alice off. "She shouldn't."

"Why…" He groaned, scrubbing his hand down his face. "I was wrong, all right? How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"No apology can make up for you wanting me to leave her there," she hissed.

"Any other day I wouldn't have suggested we leave a kid behind, but I lost friends coming to find you," he argued angrily. "If you'd have died looking for her, their deaths would have meant nothing."

"Right, because I'm more important," she huffed sarcastically, finally putting her desert eagle in its holster at her thigh.

"Like it or not, yes. We need you if we're going to have any chance of surviving," he barked, keeping his voice down even though Becky couldn't hear him. Pointing at the girl behind the curtain, he hissed, "If you die, she won't have a life, and neither will any other kid. Don't you get that?"

She understood that, but she hated thinking that she was more important than that sweet little girl.

Rather than reply, she shook her head and went back to rolling quarters for the shotgun she was given.

She expected him to leave once she gave him the cold shoulder and turned her back to him, to return to Ada, whom he seemed to have something with, but instead she heard the thud of his boots grow closer until he was directly behind her. Still, she didn't turn, though she did tense, uncertain of what exactly he was doing.

He waited a few seconds before he sighed heavily, shuffled around behind her, and practically slammed a small square box wrapped in newspaper down on the table next to her rolls of quarters.

"Merry Christmas, Alice," he said tightly and marched towards her door.

Frowning, she picked up the box, and called, "What's this?"

He stopped by the door, sighed, and looked back at her. "It's something I found lying around and thought you might like. It's a Christmas gift, but you could also say it's a peace offering."

A peace offering? He'd been trying to make nice?

Well, she felt like a bitch. He still deserved a bitter reminder now and then about wanting to leave Becky behind, but did he really need the hostility? They were going to be living in the same building and working together for what could be a very long time.

A question inched to the front of her mind and she asked curiously, "Shouldn't you be giving this to your girlfriend?"

Leon's jaw muscles twitched and he leaned back against the door from, Ada being a touchy subject. "She's not my girlfriend, and probably never will be. We… our relationship is complicated. We care about each other – or at least I care about her. But our relationship isn't anything intimate. Maybe it could have been, but certain events have made that impossible."

Alice had to wonder just what events had led to making a relationship between the two impossible. Leon had been concerned and wounded when she told him that Ada was dead, and though Ada didn't approve of his hand on her thigh she hung around him quite often in the white house and was probably the only person she had a conversation with. They seemed close, so she was undeniably curious.

Turning her attention back to the gift, she allowed a small but genuine smile to grace her face and nodded, touched by his unexpected act of kindness. "Thank you."

"Any time, Alice," Leon replied, smiling in return, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Once he was gone she tore at the newspaper and revealed a sorely battered box, the letters worn off. She opened the end, spilling the contents into her waiting hand, and was shocked to find a necklace.

The chain was one normally used for dog tags and the pendant was a quarter with a hole just big enough to get the chain through. It was something someone would use to cheat the vending machine, and something that he probably could have made with any tool around the complex. It was cheap, something that wasn't worth much, if anything, and yet Alice couldn't remember receiving a more touching and appropriate gift.

Smiling, she put the necklace on, ensured that the chain was firmly clasped, then played with the quarter that hung around her neck.

The world was still going to hell, she still hated Wesker, but her mood was brighter than it had been a few minutes ago, and maybe, just maybe, Leon S. Kennedy wasn't that bad after all.

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_**Coffee keeps me awake to write, but reviews keep me motivated to write!**_

_**Merry Christmas!**_


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